Page 7 of The Cowboy Who Looked Again

“You never know,” Nicki said.

“I’ll give you that,” Link said, because he hadn’t predicted that he’d be seated next to Misty for this wedding tonight. “Anyway, my folks are waiting. Congrats, you two. Enjoy Niagara Falls.”

They said their good-byes, and Link headed for the exit. He didn’t allow himself to look left or right, and he successfully made it away from the party and through the barn. Daddy waited in the truck at the entrance, while Momma waited just outside the door, and pure relief filled her face when she saw Link.

She smiled and let him step in front of her to open her door. “Thank you, baby.”

He closed her door after she’d climbed into the passenger seat, and then Link got in the truck behind her. Daddy met his eyes in the rearview mirror, but Link looked away.

He just wanted to go home, and he didn’t want to talk about Misty Granger quite yet. Thankfully, Daddy almost always let Link gather his thoughts first, and while Momma definitely possessed less patience, she held her tongue as they drove through town. Once they hit the highway that led south out of town, Link started to relax.

His shoulders actually went down, and he focused on releasing his breath in a slow, controlled way. By the time they passed the turn for Seven Sons, Link felt like he could talk and his voice would come out normally.

“So, what did she say?” he asked, his tone quiet and yet plenty loud enough for his parents to hear.

They exchanged another glance, and Link wasn’t surprised that Daddy answered. “She asked how to make things right with you,” he said. “Said she knew she’d hurt you, and she missed you, and she just wanted to know how to make it right.”

“How to get you back,” Momma said quietly.

Link looked out his window, part confusion and part irritation pulling down his eyebrows into a cowboy frown. He’d enjoyed dating Misty; that wasn’t a secret, nor was it a problem.

No, the problem was that she was now a year into her two-year assignment here in Three Rivers. She’d made sure he knew she wasn’t a permanent resident of this small town in the Texas Panhandle—and that she had no intentions of staying here for even a single day past her job requirements.

Her temporary status in town had lingered in the back of his mind, but something had told him that if he could just get her to fall in love with him, she’d change her mind.

“Well, we’ve met her now,” Momma said.

Link sighed and pulled his attention away from the browned grass along the side of the highway. “It wasn’t about that, Momma.”

“It was, though,” she said.

“It spoke to the seriousness of our relationship.” Link pulled his hat from his head and ran his fingers through his hair. “Nothing’s changed.” He drew his shoulders up and back as he breathed in. “Right? Her feelings for me are irrelevant. They don’t change the situation.”

“Maybe she’ll be more interested in becoming serious,” Daddy said, but he was grasping at straws, and everyone in the truck knew it.

Link shook his head. “Nah, this is just her coming face-to-face with me and panicking.” He knew Misty, and while she was a couple of years older than him and didn’t pull punches, he knew she didn’t always handle awkward and delicate situations all that well. “As soon as she’s back home tonight, she’ll realize what she’s done, and ten to one, she’ll text me and apologize. Say she lost her head for a second.”

Heck, she’d done the same thing after their first kiss, months ago. Link had not liked that apology, nor the fact that she’d tried to dismiss away the deepening of their relationship. That terrified Misty to the core for some reason she had refused to share with Link.

He’d put up with such things too, because she had been honest and upfront with him from the beginning. She did not want anything serious, and spilling past trauma or telling him about her family history, her former dating life, or anything besides what was going on in that moment, indicated something more serious than what she wanted.

Kissing had been too, but she’d definitely kissed Link back plenty of times, and after they’d smoothed out her apology, he’d held her hand, kissed her, and yes, they’d started sharing deeper things with one another.

Link had fooled himself into believing they could fall in love, that he alone could change the trajectory of her life. He scoffed now, because such a thing was so laughable with a woman like Misty. She rode the wind, laughing as she did, and no one—certainly not a simple cowboy like Link—could bring her down to reality. And definitely not a reality in small-town Three Rivers.

“Link,” Momma said as Daddy made the right turn off the highway and onto Shiloh Ridge Ranch. Uncle Preacher’s house welcomed them on the left, with Uncle Mister’s on the right. Cowboy cabins—full-up down here on the lower part of the ranch—and big sheds and barns rounded out this part of the ranch before Daddy started going up the hill toward the main part of their land.

“Maybe she won’t do that,” Momma said gently.

“It doesn’t matter,” Link said. “I want—” He stopped himself, feeling his own desperation and longing rise through him. He didn’t want that to come out in his voice, though his parents knew how he felt about Misty. Everyone seemed to know.

“I want her,” he said miserably as he mashed his cowboy hat back on his head. “But she’s not available, not in the way I want. I don’t do casual; she doesn’t do romances. We’re incompatible.”

Daddy said nothing, but he gripped the steering wheel and his shoulders rippled from left to right, indicating he’d like to speak.

“Maybe it’ll just take another try,” Momma said, forging ahead now and further annoying Link. “Daddy and I had to try three times. Look at Finn and Edith. They dated three times before they made things work too.”

Link wanted to shout that neither of those situations were the same. Misty did. Not. Live. Here.

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